A Conversation with Jets WR Coach Miles Austin (8/5)

So uh yeah, but being born in Summit, growing up in Garfield, going to Mommouth University, which is all here in Jersey. Uh, it's just great to be back home and have a chance to help the home team win finally for the first time instead of trying to beat him every time going against him? Miles, how much time do you spend down on the shore since you did go to school at Mammouth And obviously you don't have time to do it right now it's training camp gets gone.

But like during your downtime, we lived down so we live my family and I lived down in Rumps and so that's like where home is. So right now during camp, I obviously stay up here as as much as I can with the long hours that we're working and during the season, probably two nights a week I'll stay up here. But yeah, we're right down there by the shore. Uh live. And that's the reason why we chose that area when we moved back to Jersey because it was next to

Mamouth and we just love the shore. So for people who don't know too much about the shore, you, as a guy who lives there, who played collegially down there, what would you say, especially mom, it's specifically you're saying, well, mamth rumps in all that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, the area is just it's it's awesome, you know. Uh. I think the the tagline for the Mamoth football team that they send out to their cruises, we we train where you were other people vacation or something like that. So yeah, no,

it's awesome. It's it's a it's a great area down there. You got the shore right there, the weather is awesome. Being able to hit the be whenever you can is is always a great thing. So we took advantage of it. We we should have taken advantage of it more when we were in school, but uh, whenever you did get out there to the boardwalk of the beach, it was it was just awesome. Undrafted free agent here in training camp?

What do you tell the guys about your experience? I try to tell them things I wish, things I learned, the mistakes I've made, and things that I've done right. Things I wish people have told me, things that people had told me. So I just try to uh impart on them. How important, especially as uh the undrafted guys,

how attention to detail matters. How the way you are in meetings matter, the way you uh, the way you walk through matters, the special teams, reps, every everything that you do matters, because essentially you got to go in with the mindset if they're trying to do anything they can to get me out of here, and I have to make it as hard as I can on them when the time comes. Why didn't you make it though? In terms of being that guy who comes out of momouth big fish, little pond and you come into the

National Football League and you have a long career. Uh. The thing that helped me was I just have a big fear of failure almost you know. So it's like I'm gonna do whatever I can, like I'm not gonna fail like I have to, you know, I'm gonna just do whatever it takes to uh make it work out. So that's really the approach I took. So what did I need to do to make that happen. I had to on special teams, whatever you had me block some money, had to go hit somebody as hard as I can.

I had to know what I was doing. I was there on time, you know, just trying to do all those things I could to make Like I said that, the decision at the end of the camp that much more difficult. Whether you're gonna try to release me or put me on practice, I'm gonna make you have to almost sign me to to the team. So that's that was the mindset that I have, and it's the kind of wisdom I try to impart on those guys, UH day in and day out. What's unique about this offense

from a wide receiver's perspective. I was in other offenses in Dallas and UH the first time I experienced this offense was in Cleveland with Kyle Shanahan being the offensive coordinator over there, and I really honestly just fell in love with it. Just how the um, how the formations are set up, what are rules were in the run game, um, and just the way we try to find ways to attack uh defenses. So that's when I really fell in

love with it. And then I got it again when I was out there in San France and having it here. Obviously I'm I'm a lot more familiar with it, but I fell in love with it, uh in twenty fourteen when I was when I was first kind of introduced to it. What's the expectation for WI vers see for you as a guy who thrived in the system yourself who fell in love with it. One thing that stuck out to me last year about MICHAELA Fleur when he was explaining the offensive system is you guys require the

receivers to learn all the different positions. You can't just be an outside guy. You can't just be a guy who's gonna live in the slot. Yes, Uh, that's that's really the way our offense is set up. So we have concepts, obviously, but we have formations, and we have a whole bunch of formations. So all of our formations can get uh two to three people in a specific cluster let's call it, that have a combination to run. So as long as you know the combinations and you

know where you're lined up. You have what we have the ability to put you at number one, number two, or number three options in that combination based on our formations. So that's if you just know what our offenses and you know where to line up, and you know our concepts, you shouldn't have any problem, you know, I mean, and now at this point, now it just takes ability, It takes strain, it takes effort, all the other things we

ask them for. But as far as schematically, if you know where to line up and what our concepts are, you should be able to kind of handle everything because we can put you anywhere. We're gonna get back to that in a second. That's a key word around here though. Strain from a coaching perspective, What does that mean when Solid is talking about that all the time, A Miles Austin is in the wide receiver's room saying, hey, guys, we gotta strain. Strain is the thing that takes a

guy from good degrade. It takes a team from good degrade or or bad to better, or you know, it moves you up a notch strain and uh it really takes nothing other than uh, you wanting to do it. You know, it doesn't take any You don't have to be fast to strain. You can be the slowest person in the world and still strain, you know. So just kind of imparting that on our guys, Uh, to constantly

keep that in the forefront of their mind. I think it's gonna get not only them better individually, but us individually as a group better and then ultimately, uh, team wise, get the whole team. But what do Corey Davis and Braxton and Burials mean for you with this young group? Oh, it's awesome because they they've been in this system. Uh, they know it so and they pretty much do everything

you ask them to do. So having those guys dad, you know, you can put in and get consistency out of is uh is a It really makes it easy on my end. And I gotta script the day out, you know, you gotta you gotta put guys in different spots, and uh, whenever you put those two guys down on the sheet, you just feel like, all it's gonna this is gonna be handled right here, you know. So it feels great to have those guys. Yeah, So there was

a play today in practice. We're taping this but Zach drew an off side from a defender, rolls out to his left, froze fifty plus yards and Elijah Moore makes to catch eighty yards. That play covered in all something like that. Does that speak to familiarity in the system and how these guys are growing up together because maybe we want to saw that play last summer. Yeah, I think, uh, especially in Elijah's case and and all of our receivers cases,

especially the ones that we're here last year. The first year you're kind of implementing something, it's the first time a lot of guys have just been in a huddle in general. You know, it's a lot of times they've heard the type of verbage that we've uh that we

have for them. So being their second year hearing the same type of verbiage, the things that you're correcting last year, you kinda don't have to correct as much because more people know it, and the fact that more people know it and are doing it, the younger guys that come in kind of see the right example more often than not. So that's kind of how that kind of flows naturally to UH too to get us better scheme wise on those plays. I mean, that was just that play. Right.

There was just a connection of us realizing they've jumped offsides. My original route was already cut off. So let's just let's just make a play. And uh Elijah can do that, Uh pretty much as good as anybody in our in our whole in our whole receiver room. What's his next step? He's so competitive and we saw the skills that he brought to the table last year. I only played a lot of games, we still had five touchdowns, and I thought you saw that chemistry really take off with him

and the formatted Zack Wilson done stretch. Yeah, he uh, he really like took off in the right in the middle of the year and then obviously you know, tailed off with with the injury. But um, in the beginning of the year, it was just kind of like again like I was mentioning, hearing those concepts and understanding exactly what he had to do. There was just a little bit off. It was just a little bit off, and

then he kind of hit his stride. I don't know if it was like week five to ten or something like that, he just hit his stride and and really was playing at the level that he expects to play. And and we expect him to play and I think hopefully he can start at at that level of better and uh and still continue to climb to to push even further. So he's he's been, He's been a pleasure

to coach. He's ultra competitive. He wants to win every rep. Uh, and a lot of times I gotta pull him back to say, listen, let's just take a big picture of this thing and take it play by play, regardless of what happened on the last one. But I'll tell you what he's Uh, he's a pleasure to coach because he's he has that strain that we're talking about to help you as a coach that similar situations. Maybe Garrett Wilson's

drafted a little bit earlier. We know Elijah was drafted at the top of the second round, whereas Garrett comes in number ten overall. But you're you're coaching up a guy in his first year who similar skill set. I

think in some ways totally different players. I know that, but in terms of the versatility that you coached up a guy like Elijah last year and now you have a guy like Garrett who seems the same in the way he approaches things that he's going to be a sponge and he's gonna learn from his teammates, and he's alter competitive as wealth. He's very competitive and uh and he's another one. Um, he's specially you know, he's just

his body movement. Obviously, he's unbelievably athletic. It's like now taking that athleticism and still being able to use that athleticism within the uh framework of of what we have as an offense. And we're working that blend right now. But I mean a lot of the place he's making and the amount of time and energy he's he's putting into improving not only in the classroom but out here

on the field. UM, I can tell he's gonna be he's gonna be a special player for us as long as he continues to do exactly what he's doing, and he's gonna really help us out. He's gonna really help us if he's fast and he's quick. And one of the most impressive plays or efforts he had out here I think in training camp was actually a catch he didn't come down with, but it just spoke to he He jumped through the gym, he went up two defenders in the area and he was mad at himself for

not coming down with it. But that basketball background, you can see that a little bit. Huh, yeah, you can see it at the line of scrimmage at the top of routes. Um. I like to see it less sometimes when the balls and there, unless you really have to go up and go get it, because really, as as receivers were trying to keep our feet on the ground to be able to continue to move after we catch it.

So we worked out with all of our guys are just like jumping when you have to, but also being heavy to the ground so you can so you can do something with it instantly. But yeah, that play like going up, it looked like it was one of those It was it DeAndre uh dedre Jordan's who kind of like maybe it was like, you know, it was like um Blake Griffin. Yeah, you know, anyone's got pushed up a little higher as he jumped up there. Yeah, no, he went up. He went really really high, and I

don't know what his vertical was. I'm sure it was around forty but it was about forty five on that It felt like that and he's in helmet and shorts. How cool is it for you guys, the possibilities now that this is a group that can kind of grow up together. Because you're working with a quarterback in his second year and Zach, it is special. Uh those guys are are together. I saw they were out there and

uh in Idaho working together. So whenever you get a core group um around similar age or at least similar interests or at least that are just that connected together, uh, there's so much more of a bond that can happen off the field. But that translates to how you practice. That translates to games. Trusting the guy across from you, knowing the guy across from you, Uh, it makes you

work that much harder as a as a player. I've been in that situation UM with my teammates as a player, and I just know that there were times like Layton games, you're you're with you, with you guys, and you know, as long as you're connected in that way, you feel like you've got a chance lating games to do things special.

I'm not asking you to go Rob Calabrie's here and give me your complete evaluation on Zach, but from your guys eyes, what's different about him here that second summer because one of the things that I caught my eyes again today was that it seemed like you're gone Temple and maybe last year at this time, that's not something you guys are doing where he maybe he's processing the play and take some time to hear what's coming in from La fleur, but he really seems like he's getting

to the line quicker and going through everything quicker and hitting your guys. Yeah, it's and it goes back to too, even with our receiver room familiarity, just hearing the play calls here and here in the concepts knowing them. The more you do anything, you know ten thousand hour, The more you do anything, and the more you are practicing

the right way, the better you get. So uh, not only him, but our entire receiver room, our entire offensive line, everyone hearing it another year and being able to digest what they're hearing from from the huddle, uh, and being able to execute it. Because you've had those looks. You have memories in your head of what happened the last time I faced this look, or I faced faced this

coverage and this leverage in front of me. Um, you can go back to those memories and and kind of figure out answers faster than you did when it's the first time you're hearing it versus the first look that you're seeing. All Right, you gotta roll. You've been gracious with your time. I gotta get a quick one in though. UM with Zach Robert Sali was talking about the second play. There's the first play and then there's the sec can

play when he breaks the pocket. Um. From receiver's view, what do you guys have to do when you see the athletic guy get out? What's what's the move next?

They're like just general rules. A lot of times when when ball scrambles out right, you're obviously trying to find space out there, uh, and you're trying to find that space again, kind of like I was saying almost with Garrett, within the confines of how we're all going to get there, So without getting in too much too uh specifics, there's spaces we have to get to based on how we're

running there or who's in what spot. So every time, uh, that Zach ever does break out the pocket, it's a great way we can practice those rules and kind of tweak them as we go or realize, oh, I should have came down on this one, or I should have ran, I should have taken the top off first, this look on the sideline, and I thought, Elijah is uh playing. It was a great example of like what to do kind of when a play breaks down. So we're getting

repsitted every single day. So, uh, those second plays happened pretty often in games. You know a lot of guys, a lot of big, good quarterbacks out there kind of make their hay on on those second second places. So hopefully we can be one of those teams that they can make something out of those as well. Yeah, I appreciate your time and hopefully we can catch up again real soon. It sounds good. Thank you, thanks for having me.